101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
72. Kenzo Suzuki As ‘Hirohito’
It'd be an understatement to say that Kenzo Suzuki didn't succeed in WWE circles. Only those watching at the time or fans who have decided to binge-watch SmackDown from 2004 since will understand why. "Understand" is the key word, because the writers sure didn't get any of Suzuki's strengths or why he'd been picked to win the Young Lion Cup by New Japan in 2000.
Kenzo himself takes some responsibility too - it isn't all on WWE.
They needed a slap for dreaming up a less than ideal way to introduce this Japanese star to the North American audience though. A vignette alleging that Suzuki was the grandson of Japanese emperor Hirohito (who ruled during World War II) aired on Raw before Kenzo could corner Vince McMahon and tell him how offensive that'd be to people back home.
Mercifully, McMahon agreed to sidestep unnecessary offensiveness and downplay that side of Suzuki's character in the company. Kenzo and his wife, who debuted as his valet, also told Bruce Prichard how disliked Hirohito was by many in Japan, and they wondered if WWE telling such a story would have negative implications on doing business internationally.
That seemed to give Vince something to chew over. He didn't like the thought of business being harder to come by should he ever take the promotion to Japan, and so Kenzo was turned into a more standard heel instead. He still flopped, unfortunately, but that was more on his side than anyone else's.
WWE's core audience just didn't take to Suzuki, and he was gone by July 2005.